Modi govt didn’t set up a single PSU but went on to privatise 23 of them: Congress in Rajya Sabha

Launching a scathing attack on the Modi government for privatizing Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) units, the Congress said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the BJP-led Union government has not created a single PSU in the last seven years but had privatised 23 of them.

Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the upper house, Congress MP Ripun Bora mentioned the number of PSUs created by the previous governments.

He said that former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had created 16 and 23 PSUs respectively. While no PSU was privatised during the former’s tenure, only three such units were privatized during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as PM.

Bora said that even former PM Atul Bihari Vajpayee had created 17 PSUs, but the Modi government had not created a single PSU.

Manmohan Singh government had privatised only three PSUs, said Bora.

Ponting out that the economy was badly devastated during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bora asserted that the President's address, which is considered as a roadmap for the future, did not mention anything about how to recover from the dismal economic situation in the country.

“There was a drastic fall in the income of 84 crore people during the pandemic, but the President's address did not mention anything,” said Bora, adding “It was totally contrary to people's expectations as the address neither mentioned ways nor measures on how to recover the losses during Covid-19.”

Drawing a parallel between the UPA and the Modi government in the context to poverty, Bora said that during the time of UPA, 27 crore people were pulled out of poverty but (due to govt’s economic policies) five crore people have now been pushed below the poverty line.

Bora also attacked the Modi government on inflation, saying “not a single word to tackle price rise was mentioned in the President's address despite individual consumption having hugely declined”.

Manmohan Singh government had privatised only three PSUs, said Bora.

Ponting out that the economy was badly devastated during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bora asserted that the President's address, which is considered as a roadmap for the future, did not mention anything about how to recover from the dismal economic situation in the country.

“There was a drastic fall in the income of 84 crore people during the pandemic, but the President's address did not mention anything,” said Bora, adding “It was totally contrary to people's expectations as the address neither mentioned ways nor measures on how to recover the losses during Covid-19.”

Drawing a parallel between the UPA and the Modi government in the context to poverty, Bora said that during the time of UPA, 27 crore people were pulled out of poverty but (due to govt’s economic policies) five crore people have now been pushed below the poverty line.

Bora also attacked the Modi government on inflation, saying “not a single word to tackle price rise was mentioned in the President's address despite individual consumption having hugely declined”.

Pertinently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a post-Budget press conference accepted that inflation was affecting the common man. She, however, claimed that the government has taken various steps to tackle the rising prices.

Bora also raised the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and criticised the Indian armed forces for allegedly killing 17 coal miners in Nagaland’s Mon district on December 4 last year.

“Normally military is used against foreign aggression, but our military has killed our own people,” said the Congress leader.

Bora also pointed out that the much-hyped Naga peace talks had not yielded any result yet.